The Push
by The Sacred and Profane
Summary: Rude gets back at Reno for a prank. One shot for Merucha.


The Push

AN: I own nothing in this story. This is for Merucha. Please R&R.

It had started as a simple temptation.

Reno was bent over, tying his shoe, and Rude remembered the whoopie cushion prank from last month. A push had Reno's arms revolving for purchase but met nothing but water as he crashed into the lake.

Luckily for the redhead, both Turks were in Kalm for some downtime and not in Edge or the ruins of Midgar, where any water would definitely not be healthy for them. When Reno didn't emerge from the water, Rude knew something was wrong.

So, taking off his suit, he dove in, grabbing his friend and bringing him back to the surface, dragging him to land. He was a moment from performing CPR when Reno coughed up a fountain of water and sat up, groaning.

Reno glared at Rude as he got to his feet.

Rude merely stared back.

Silence, Rude's usual territory, was being taken over by Reno as time passed.

"That wasn't funny," Reno said, as serious as Rude had ever heard him.

Rude merely shrugged his shoulders and started back the way they came. As Reno watched his friend walk away, the Turk dashed forward, taking a leap and landing directly on Rude's shoulders, giving him the best noogie he could, all while cursing.

Rude, ignoring the noogie, simply picked Reno off of his back and continued on his way.

Reno, not one to be deterred so easily, vanished into some bushes and waited for a better moment to get back at his friend for nearly drowning him.

Didn't he know that Reno couldn't swim?

An hour later, as Rude made one final sweep of the area, he radioed in to Tseng, who was back at HQ with Elena at his side.

"Nothing."

"Return to Edge with Reno."

"Understood."

Rude heard a rustle from a few of the bushes nearby and walked forward, easily parting them, expecting to see Reno.

What he got was a panther-like monster, fangs bared and ready to pounce.

* * *

><p>Reno was lost.<p>

He was certain Rude would have taken the left turn at the right fork of the road they had been on but when he arrived there was no one there.

He searched around for anything that would jog his memory when he heard a pair of footsteps approaching. Smirking, the redhead leaped out, arms at the ready to give Rude a good nipple twister.

But instead of the broad shoulders of his best friend, Reno was met with the slim shoulders of one of his least favorite people in the world: Rude's girlfriend.

Yuffie gave a shriek as she was sent crashing to the ground, screeching as she recognized just who it was.

"Get off me Turkey! Where's Rude?"

Reno, more than willing to get off, stood up, not offering to help the Materia "treasure hunter" up as well.

"I don't know. I was looking for him myself when I ran into you. Why are you even here anyway?"

Yuffie then took a device out from one of the pockets of her short shorts and showed it to Reno. It was no bigger than a cellphone and only showed one blinking dot appearing all over the screen.

"What is this supposed to do?"

"It's my Rude-tracker. Can't be too careful in relationships these days. I followed the signal this far but then it started going haywire a few minutes ago. Which means something's happened to him!"

Reno couldn't help but notice how cute Yuffie was all concerned over his best friend and decided that maybe she wasn't such a pain-in-the-butt after all.

"We'll find him together."

Suddenly, Yuffie's tracker beeped and the red dot stabilized, coming closer and closer.

Rude soon appeared, running as fast as he could.

"Rude!" Yuffie exclaimed, only for her giddy expression to warp into a wide-eyed, jaw-dropping gape as a monster appeared behind him, fangs dripping with drool. Reno and Yuffie chased after Rude, the pair overtaking him in moments as they continued to run.

On and on they ran, until they reached the town proper and collapsed, exhausted, as the monster ran off, not wanting to get near the settlement.

"Remind me...to get...you a floaty..." Rude huffed.

Reno glared but could only nod and exhale.

Yuffie gave the middle finger in the general direction of the monster and collapsed against Rude's shoulders, latching on like a baby koala.

"Wanna go home," Yuffie mumbled, eyes closing.

Reno rolled his eyes at Yuffie's child-like behavior but decided that catching his breath was more important than making fun of her.

Together, Reno and Rude walked towards the inn, the push forgotten as Yuffie started snoring, the sound causing Reno's ears to ache and his eyes to twitch.

As he entered the inn, he reminded himself to lay off the pranks and also to look for something to gain Rude's favor. He didn't want the bald man blabbing to Yuffie that he couldn't swim.

He'd never hear the end of it.


End file.
